As in any war between two sovereign countries, the Ukraine conflict has resulted in thousands of soldiers on both sides being taken captive. Both sides appear to be using prisoners of war (POWs) in ways that break international law.
In May, Russia claimed to have captured almost 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol who were defending the area for as long as they could. Denis Pushilin, a rebel leader in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, was quoted by Tass, Russia’s state news service, saying that Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered after fighting to defend Azovstal would face an international tribunal.
Before the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, a Russian defence spokesperson, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, said in an interview with The Guardian: “It was these Azov battalion Nazis who had been exterminating civilian population in Donetsk and Luhansk republics, deliberately and with exceptional cruelty, for eight years.”
